Nightblade Epic: A Book of Underrealm

Loren did not ask for the dagger at her waist. She did not ask to be born to cruel parents. And she did not ask to be drawn into a conflict that threatens more harm than she can possibly imagine. After 15 years of toil, when her dreams of adventure have very nearly died out, a spark arrives to rekindle them. A half-glimpsed coat of blue, dodging through the trees of the Birchwood. A wizard. A fugitive. Escape.

Loren dreams of escaping her cruel parents and becoming a great thief: Nightblade, a warrior of darkness and a champion of the light. Following the fugitive sorcerer Xain out of her forest home, she wears a stolen noble's cloak of fine black cloth and carries a dagger the world has not seen in centuries - a blade that can turn enemies to allies when she least expects it. Yet something keeps her from using that dagger to take a life.

Loren is on her way to becoming the woman of her dreams: Nightblade, a warrior of the darkness and a champion of the light. But powerful enemies hunt her across the kingdom while she searches in vain for her lost friends. At her side is Jordel, a Mystic who seems to know more about Loren than she would wish - and something about her powerful dagger. But Loren has much to learn about Jordel’s order, and not all of it is good. Loren wishes only to find her friends and evade the King's law. But she will have to decide whether to flee Underrealm's problems, or stand and fight them.

Xain's madness has branded Loren and her friends, and even Jordel, fugitives from not only the King's law, but the order of Mystics. Their only hope lies in a hidden stronghold far to the north of the kingdom of Selvan. With their steps hounded, they must take a dangerous route through the Greatrock Mountains to the west. But more than Mystics and constables will pursue them, as dark creatures stalk them from the shadows of high peaks, and the presence of a mysterious foe known only as "The Lord" looms over them.

Loren is listless in the wind. Though the Shades have been revealed, the cost of that knowledge seems too heavy to bear. And once again, Xain is clutched by the tremors of magestone sickness, giving her the excuse she needs to simply not go on. But now that the Shades have been found, they will not let Loren rest. If the Mystics learn what she knows, all the Shades' dark schemes could be thrown into disarray.

Woe be to traitors, for now the High King has an agent of retribution: Loren of the family Nelda is now the Nightblade. Ever since Loren first left the Birchwood Forest, the merchant Damaris has hounded her steps. Now Damaris has committed high treason and begun a civil war, and Loren has been sent to bring her before the King’s law. At Loren’s side is a party of Mystics, capable warriors all. For the first time, she finds herself an agent of the realm rather than a criminal within it. But that brings no promise of safety, for all the nine lands are now a danger to any traveler.

In a backwater tavern, a young girl named Sun meets a talespinner named Albern. But Sun already knows him from legends...and now she wants to hear them from him firsthand. Albern tells Sun the tale of his adventures with Mag, possibly the greatest warrior Underrealm has ever seen.

Contained within this audiobook are the first 11 Chronicles of Underrealm, short stories penned in this expansive world. Written by a wide array of incredible authors, these tales will reveal secrets of Underrealm that avid listeners won’t find anywhere else—and introduce new arrivals to a world that’s every bit as intricate and interesting as our own.